And I don’t mean market bulls, either.

It’s been a rough couple days in Johannesburg, starting with my delayed flights that caused me to miss my Zurich Club chapter meeting put on by MoneyWeek SA. I was also supposed to have a round-table lunch engagement with the editors of MoneyWeek SA on Friday, but as it turns out, Friday was a school holiday and many of the editors had to leave early.

Something that should have been known before hand, I’m sure, but done is done.

And to top it all off, my rather rude “cab” ride to the airport got his bumber whacked as we were exiting. He said a few choice words and ran across several lanes of traffic to yell at the guys who hit him. It wasn’t bad, but it was his car, and the back taillight was damaged.

Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to get out of Jo’burg.

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Tags: Government, South Africa, World Cup 2010

I woke up fairly early this morning, considering my 21-hour, three-legged flight yesterday. I was still a little tired, but I was hungry, and my stomach won out, particularly since I remembered that I bought the breakfast buffet with my room stay at the Protea Hotel Balalaika.

Let me start throwing some numbers at you.

I booked two nights at this hotel for $73 a night, including the breakfast buffet. The coffee was outstanding by the way. Somewhat a cross between an espresso and a cafe americano. I was happy… I booked through Expedia, and I’m not sure if I just got a special, or if that was the regular going rate. I’m literally 200 meters from the Hilton, and a quarter mile from a large Radisson, both of which had rooms at more than triple the rate I got.

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Tags: Astin Martin, BMW, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, South Africa

Well, I can’t say that I’m having fun yet. It’s been more of a comedy of errors, without the comedy.

I started off well enough in Baltimore. The security lines were short, and I was prepared - shoes, belt, and jacket off, laptop out of the bag. I was at the gate very early and kicked back to enjoy a coffee. That’s when the enjoyment stopped.

My first leg of the trip was to Atlanta, but before we even hit the runway, the captain came on the speaker saying that the tower had to evacuate because of a fire alarm.

Now, it was a false alarm, but we were delayed a good 45 minutes.

That meant I had to run to my gate to catch my 3:50pm flight… and wouldn’t you know, the international terminal is on the other side of the airport. I think I need to exercise more, cause I was really out of breath. And I was worried that my bag wouldn’t make it.

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Tags: African Power Companies, South Africa, World Cup 2010

Tomorrow, I leave for South Africa. I’ve got an interesting itinerary lined up, and a couple surprise “cancellations” along the way, which I’ll tell you about as I go along. Here was my general itinerary:

April 1 - Flight to Johannesburg; Arrive @ 4:40 p.m. on April 2
April 2 - Zurich Club Chapter Meeting – MoneyWeek SA, local university
April 3 - Lunch Meeting with MoneyWeek SA
April 4 - Flight to Cape Town; Arrive @ 2:10 p.m.
April 5 - Tour of Cape Town
April 6 - Flight to Port Elizabeth; Arrive @ 10:20 a.m.; Lunch with VIP Subscriber F.S.; Return to Johannesburg @ 6:55 p.m.
April 7 - Will arrange a tour through the hotel, perhaps to Pilanesberg Game Reserve (90 min. north of Johannesburg)
April 8 - Flight home; Arrive @ 11:53 a.m. on April 9

I’m having lunch with one of our very own Taipan VIP Inner Circle subscribers, F.S. He’s lived in the country for 30 years, and he had this to say in a response to one of my Taipan Insider articles…

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Tags: South Africa, South Africa Investment firm, South African mines